Anne's secret stomach surgery

Secret operation: Anne Diamond
The Weekender

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From painstaking calorie counting to punishing workouts, she has made no secret of her battle to lose weight.

But Anne Diamond kept one important detail to herself when she joined the chubby cast of ITV's Celebrity Fit Club in an attempt to shape up.

The television presenter had drastic stomach surgery last September to prevent her being able to eat as much.

The £6,000 gastric banding operation, which is also available on the NHS, is regarded as a last-ditch option for clinically obese patients who have tried every other alternative for losing weight.

As many as two per cent die from complications.

Miss Diamond, 51, did not inform producers of the ITV1 programme Celebrity Fit Club, in which she is currently appearing, that she had had surgery, giving her a headstart in the losing game.

It was only during filming yesterday that she broke down in tears and admitted what she had done - a full five weeks into the eight-week programme.

'I did it last year when everything looked very bleak and I thought I would never fight my way through my weight problem,' said the presenter who put on five stones after the birth of her children and breakdown of her marriage.

Despite her attempts to follow various diets and work- out regimes - chronicled in books, newspaper articles and even her own exercise video - she has never managed to get her weight back under control permanently.

'What people don't know is how many times I have tried to lose weight and failed,' she said.

'The decision to go ahead with the surgery was a very big deal indeed because I am a single mum with four children.

'There are lots of people who speak out against such surgery saying there is a danger, and you can tell how desperate I was by the fact that I did go ahead with it.

'I wouldn't have gone ahead with that serious decision had it not been an act of almost desperation.

'I had got to the point where I thought I have done everything I can to battle this weight. It won't shift. I could starve and it won't shift.

'The danger of yo-yoing again was very real so I had to do something pretty dramatic.'

She said she became interested in the operation after hearing that X-Factor presenter Sharon Osbourne had it done years earlier.

Miss Diamond, who lives in Oxfordshire, travelled to Belgium for the surgery after researching the procedure.

She wrote final letters to her four sons in case she suffered fatal complications during the operation.

Her confession, which can be seen on tomorrow's Celebrity Fit Club episode, could have seen her thrown off the series as a cheat.

However, the producers have decided to let her stay.

Fellow contestants, who include astrologist Russell Grant and actress Mikyla Dodd, have not all been so sympathetic, however.

In the programme, fellow contestant and newspaper columnist Carole Malone told her: 'It is disingenuous. We were not all starting on a level playing field.

'I think it's a bit of a cheat. You didn't own up to it. You were specifically asked if you had had surgery.'

Despite her drastic step, Miss Diamond is still struggling to lose weight.

Over the past week she has lost just one pound, having started the series five weeks ago clinically obese at 14st 9lb.

'The surgery isn't working as well as it should for me,' she said. 'I have had to earn every single pound I have lost on Fit Club.'

An ITV spokesman said: 'This matter was brought to our attention and so we discussed it with Anne. We have decided to allow her to continue with the show.

'The fact that she went to such lengths to tackle her weight problem is an indication of how serious this is for her.'

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